Locality Switch

I love it when things just work; there’s really no need to think about these things or meddle with them. After all, if it ain’t broke, why try and fix it?

The trouble is, what happens when something breaks? How do you fix it if you’ve never touched it before? For example, I’ve never had to clean out the faders in our broadcast console before. I don’t know the best method to do it, and even now that I know the best method thanks to other experts in the industry, I still haven’t used their advice because I haven’t done it before and am a bit nervous about pulling faders apart.

So, what is the best way to learn about equipment before it breaks and now it is critical that it gets fixed? I’ve learnt that it is best to dive in and fiddle with things whenever there is a chance. Whatever equipment there is around you, just grab a screwdriver and pull the lit off it.

For example, a few weeks ago, I pulled our low powered backup FM transmitter out of the rack, opened the lid, and had a look around. I now know that to program the frequency of it, you need to switch the dip switches and use binary. I didn’t know that before I opened it up! I also got to see how all the different components of the transmitter connect together.

Another technique to learn about equipment is by reading the manual. And the manual for other pieces of equipment similar to it. Or even manuals for bits of equipment you don’t own.

I learn heaps about compressor/limiters by downloading some old manuals off a manufacturers website, and reading through all of the instructions and application examples contained within it’s pages. I now know a bit about how Axia Audio over IP networks operate thanks to the extensive manuals they provide on their website. I don’t regret spending time doing things like this.

It’s a combination of pulling stuff apart and reading through manuals which has helped me learn what I know, but I need to keep doing this to keep learning more and more. I’m only young, and I have my whole career ahead of me, so now is defiantly no time to stop learning!

Try and define the current community standards for decency. It’s pretty hard, maybe even impossible. Where do you draw the line on what is acceptable to say and do on radio, and what isn’t? How do you know what your boundaries are, when they aren’t clearly set out.

Both Community and Commercial radio have clauses in their relevant codes of practice to explain that programs broadcast must meet certain standards of decency.

1.5 (a) All program content must meet contemporary standards of decency, having regard to the likely characteristics of the audience of the licensee’s service.

[ Commercial Radio Australia - Codes of Practice & Guidelines ]

3.2 We will attempt to avoid censorship where possible. However, in our programming decisions we will consider our community interest, context, degree of explicitness, the possibility of alarming the listener, the potential for distress or shock, prevailing Indigenous laws or community standards and the social importance of the broadcast.

[ Community Radio Broadcasting Codes of Practice ]

But what is deemed acceptable? Let’s take swearing as an example. What words would you anticipate you couldn’t say on air? I would think that almost all swearing would be a no-go, except for the lightest swear words. When I tuned into a commercial station last week, heaps of songs in their countdown program contained meny words which I wouldn’t thing were suitable to broadcast in the early evening. I’m sure this isn’t the first time their music contained these words – it must have been happening for a while.

But yet I don’t hear a public outcry about it.

Nor did I hear a huge amount of whinging about the woeful contents of Kyle and Jackie-O’s brekky show, until that fateful morning containing a lie detector. Media Watch must have been the only media outlet I saw complaining about their stunts. So, does that mean most people don’t have a problem with it? Or just don’t care?

All of this must mean that people think swearing is acceptable for broadcast. Yet, whenever we have an incident of someone saying a naughty word on air on 2CCR, a flood of complains ensues. Something’s up? What’s so different?

The answer, it seems, is: “audience”. The audience your station has determines what you can get away with. If you have an audience consisting primarily of those in their twenties, you can get away with heaps. But, if your audience is filled with families or slightly older people, you can’t get away with anywhere near as much.

This still doesn’t answer my question about community standards, but I don’t think it ever will be answered, unless we turn into a communist state.

In radio, one size never fits all. What is suitable for one station isn’t suitable for the other. Just because you hear swearing and questionable content on one station doesn’t mean you can get away with it on another station. There’s no role models in radio – everyone has to be unique.

Being a fairly small and somewhat closed industry around the world, I’ve found it hard to find some good online resources to help me as a broadcast technician. On top of that, there aren’t any university courses specific to radio engineering, but that’s another story.

However, there are a couple of resources I’ve found around the place which may be of some help. Here’s a few:

Radio Magazine – radiomagonline.com

This free online magazine focuses on radio technology, with a particular focus on the USA markets. It has reviews and tips about every bit of radio equipment imaginable, stories on studio builds, and also an “Engineer’s Handbook”. I’ve always found this site to be very informative and enjoyable to read.

The Broadcaster’s Desktop Resource – thebdr.net

Although all of the articles are in PDF format and require me to download them, The Broadcaster’s Desktop Resource publishes easy to understand articles on a variety of different topics relevant to radio techies.

This Week in Radio Tech (TWiRT) – thisweekinradiotech.com

I was pointed towards this podcast only yesterday. As I write there’s only one episode available, but apparently it will become a weekly thing. That’s good, because the first episode was excellent! It’s hosted by Kirk Harnack, who works for Telos/Omnia/Axia, and even though I’ve only spoken to him through a couple of emails and then heard him on this podcast, he is a very knowledgeable guy. Also co-hosting the show are Tom Ray are Chris Tobin.

It is said you learn something new every day, and today most of my learning came from this podcast. One of the things of interest to me was the EAS system, which is a way of broadcasting emergency messages simultaneously through a group of stations in a geographic zone. I wasn’t aware such a system existed in the USA, but now that I do know, I’m wondering why we don’t have a similar system out here.

Audio Over IP: Building Pro AoIP Systems with Livewire by Steve Church & Skip Pizzi

Okay, this isn’t really a online resource. Hey, I haven’t even read it yet! But I have been promised a copy from the great folks at Axia, and I can’t wait to get a hold of it and read it cover to cover (several times over, I’m sure!). Not having read it myself, here’s a description from Amazon:

Position yourself at the forefront of audio and broadcast studio technology by learning audio over IP. You will gain knowledge of IP network engineering as it applies to audio applications, and then progress to a full understanding of how equipment built on Ethernet and Internet Protocol are used in today’s audio production and broadcast facilities for the transporting, mixing and processing of pro-quality audio. A chapter on integrating Voice-over IP telephony (VoIP) to pro-audio and broadcast facilities is also included.

Radio While Papers – broadcastpapers.com

I must admit, some of the papers available from Broadcast Papers can be very full on, in terms of writing style and content. They can also be very biased towards particular products, as many of these papers have been written by representatives from particular companies. None the less, there are a few good tips to be picked up and some new things to be learned.

The Product Manuals

There is a lot to be gained from reading the manual for different products. Some manufacturers of pro audio gear put tremendous effort into making their manuals informative and very useful. Better still, many are available on the internet. Some of the manuals I have enjoyed are from Axia, Behringer, Comrex, Sonifex, Tieline.

The best manuals not only explain the actual product, but provide background information which helps you understand why things work a certain way.

There we have it, a few resources we have in regards to radio technology. They’ve all been useful for me, and I hope that by sharing them here, you may find something new. If you know of any other handy resources, please post them in the comments below, or email them through to me.

It’s been a long time since I have listened to a commercial station for an extended period of time. Occasionally I would surf the bands, and stay with a station for the duration of a song which I found catchy, but overall I have just been listening to community radio. To me, it’s much more personal and much more enjoyable.

This week I decided to listen to a commercial radio station for a couple of hours in the evening. Why? I’ve been on holidays, and decided to do something different for a bit. Break out of the routine, and all of that stuff.

Now I remember why I don’t listen to Commercial Radio.

The station I decided to listen to was 2Day FM, and the show which was on at the time was the Hot 30 countdown. I haven’t listened to one of these countdown type shows for a while, but I was under the impression that they typically consisted of music. What did I hear? Anything but music! With so much talking and phone ins happening, they might as well make it a talkback show.

After listening to this show for a couple of hours, I really came to appreciate community radio. Commercial radio is so, well, commercial. It may seem a stupid observation to make, but there are just so many ads! I literally couldn’t tell the difference between ads, show promos, sweepers, talk breaks, competitions and the music.

Everything just blends together into one very very tight package. There’s no room to breathe. From one aspect, this is a credit to the people who produce the show – such tight integration doesn’t happen magically, and i know it takes quite a bit of work to achieve.

However, I believe there should be a line drawn somewhere. When is enough, enough? Sure, there are bills to pay and shareholders to please, but in some ways I believe it would be more beneficial to loosen things up a tad. I was quite confused when trying to distinguish what was an ad or not. I eventually concluded that if it wasn’t a song, then it must be an ad :)

For once, I am greatful that we have community radio which is limited in the amount of sponsorships which can be played. I am grateful that we don’t play the same twelve songs over and over and over and over and over and over and over…

Community radio is a breath of fresh air, but it wasn’t until I ventured back into commercial radio that I realised this.

Will I listen to another commercial station again? Sure. But it won’t be for entertainment. It will be to analyse what they are doing, and to learn as much as I possibly can about on air presentation. Even though I want to be a technician, I still think it’s important to learn about what actually goes to air. After all, that’s all the average listener hears.

Daylight savings starts this Sunday morning in NSW, and that means one thing: Clock nightmare in radio land!

Last year, I spent all of the Saturday morning before hand checking registry settings on each computer to make sure they would adjust appropriately come Sunday morning. That isn’t a very efficient way to spend an entire morning, but it had to be done to make sure funny things didn’t happen to our overnight programs and everything played at the correct time.

This year, everything has been made so much easier for me. See, I found this utility called TZEdit. (Downloadable from onlinecomputertips.com)

I can confirm that this utility works on both Windows XP and Windows Server 2008. I can’t say anything about other operating systems, but I suspect that it will work for Vista and Windows 7, too (they have a similar codebase to Server 2008).

This utility allowed me to confirm that each computer had the daylight savings times set correctly for our time zone (starting on the First Sunday of October at 2am).

Now I can sit back and relax, knowing that my computers should drift through daylight savings without a worry. The only thing I need to remember is to not to put anything into the 2am hour, as that will be skipped. Apart from that, it’s all sweet.

Now would be a great time for you to check all of your computers for Daylight Savings compatibility. Don’t leave it until the last minute.

I needed a program fail monitor to tell me when 2CCR was ‘of the air’, and I wanted it cheap. In fact, I didn’t want to pay for it. Not now, anyway. I wanted a quick and dirty solution to let me know when something had gone wrong. There’s plenty of horror stories of when things go wrong and the station goes off the air, and I didn’t want any of this to happen to me.

There’s plenty of solutions out there, such as the Elan Program Monitoring systems. But these cost at least $800, and won’t actually notify me when a problem occurs – they just trigger another program source to start playing. What I wanted was a SMS notification when our program source failed, and stayed dead for more than sixty seconds (so small operator mishaps won’t disturb me).

After searching high and low, it turns out that Pirate Radio has a great software solution, and it’s totally free! It’s called Pira CZ Silence Detector, and will listen to the line in source to the computer and perform a defined set of actions whenever the audio stays below a set threshold for a set period of time.

The different types of actions it can perform are great. Here’s the feature list:

The Pira CZ Silence Detector actually can:

• Send alert email message (now supports also SSL authentication!)
• Save actual screenshot (and optionally attach it to email)
• Run application(s), play backup mp3 file(s)
• Reboot/shutdown the system
• Kill application(s)
• Drive port pin
• Send HTTP query (inform about the status on your web site)
• Speak using the Windows SAPI
• and more!

What more could you ask it to do? Any task imaginable could be performed by this powerful but small app – the ability to run applications and switch a COM port pin enable you to do whatever you want with whatever bit of equipment or software you have.

However, the task I really wanted to do was Send an SMS. This isn’t on the list, but sending email alerts is! Using a SMS Gateway, it’s easy to get an email sent via SMS. I use SMS Global, who allow me to send an email to a special email address, and then the contents of that email are transferred to a SMS message – all within seconds!!

It’s all quite magical. I loaded this freeware onto our logger (it already has an incoming audio feed) and did a quick firewall rejig to route the email traffic through to the server. Now I will receive a notification on my mobile whenever we have more than sixty seconds of dead air. Thankfully it hasn’t happened during the early morning, but I’m sure the day will come sooner or later. Probably when I least expect it.

The next task to undertake is to set this application to play some music whenever the program fails, rather than just sending a notification. I’m thinking I need some really quirky song to play, so anyone who works with us will know when something’s gone wrong, just by the music which is playing. Any suggestions? I also need to get some of our extra network gear onto a UPS so my notifications will arrive even during a power outage. If anyone wants to donate a UPS to us, that would be great (it doesn’t have to be huge, a small one will do).

The weekend starts tomorrow; that means only one thing – an Outside Broadcast from Castle Towers shopping centre. I’m really excited – this is the first OB they’ve let me do since Australia Day, so I’m rip-roaring to go! To make it better, we’re using some new technology (well, new to us, at least!).

The whole broadcast will be encoded into an Ogg Vorbis stream by EdCast, and then sent over a borrowed 3G connection back to our studios where it will go to air. This is the first time I’ve done this, so I’m excited, to say the least. It’s a four hour broadcast, so this will be a great chance to test everything out.

How do I know it will work? I’ve been trying this for weeks, broadcasting to myself over the 3G modem back to a PC at the station. I’ve been able to broadcast for quite some time, before being interrupted (usually by the smell of dinner). This whole thing is actually pretty good, and I don’t expect any trouble.

The real questions are, “what could go wrong?” and “what can I do to prevent/fix it?”. Here’s a couple of scenarios:

• People at the studios can’t access the feed. This could happen, if they misplace my instructions or something bad happens to the computer in the studio. To cover for this, I’ve got remote access to one of the PCs, so I can do it all by myself, if need be
• The internet at the studios drops out. This does happen every so often, so I’ve ensured that people at the studio have access to the modem, so it can be power-cycled
• No 3G reception; This would be dreadful. However, I’ve tested the site extensively, and there is full signal strength – hopefully this won’t occur.
• Laptop at the site breaks; I’ll be taking my MacBook which can run Windows, just in case

If you’ve got some free time tomorrow morning and live in the Castle Hill area of NSW, please come down and say hello. It would be great to catch up with you. I’ll be there for a 10am broadcast, running until 2pm. Full details are on the 2CCR Website.

At 2CCR, we need to find someone to fill the position of Station Manager. I suggested that the best way to start was by developing a formal position description, so we know what the ideal candidate should be able to do, what their duties are, etc.

With nothing better to do after dinner one day, I decided I would give it a go. Here’s what I came up with:

Key Role:

• Must ensure the smooth day to day operation of the station

Responsibilities:

• Be the main contact person for all presenters, and emergency situations
• Maintaining regular contact with presenters, and attend to any issues arising
• Ensuring program vacancies are filled with a suitable casual presenter
• Able to troubleshoot basic technical issues, and delegate all other technical issues appropriately
• Have understanding of the policies and procedures of the station as well as codes of practice and legal requirements, and be able to enforce them as appropriate
• Providing regular written reports to the board, and attending board meetings as necessary
• Assessing newly trained presenters to ensure competency before going to air
• Welcoming new volunteers and making them feel comfortable

Requirements:

• Excellent written and verbal communication skills
• Competency with the usage of computers to fulfill the job’s requirements
• An understanding of radio broadcasting and how it functions
• Great people skills
• Enthusiasm, commitment and passion for community broadcasting

Availability:

• Should be able to attend the station for a minimum of five hours, during weekdays, each week
• Should be available at other times to visit specific presenters as the need arises
• Should be available for attendance at out of hours meetings
• Must be comfortable being on call all of the time to resolve or delegate responsibility of emergency situations

That’s what I wrote. What is it based on? Nothing, except my own personal opinions. Remember, this is just what I feel our station needs – your station manager could have a whole other set of duties not outlined here. Also, this hasn’t been adopted by our board, so it certainly isn’t final; it’s just my contribution.

Feel free to use it. Adapt it. Change it. Rejig it. It’s open for you to freely use. Enjoy!

With the CBF now accepting applications for the Audio over IP Outside Broadcast grant, I thought I would put together a hypothetical outside broadcast rig. Is it possible to put together a complete rig within the limits of this budget? We’ll soon find out.

This isn’t just the computer and 3G modem – this is my attempt to fit all the essentials into a rig (computer, modem, mixer, as well as PA gear). Let’s see if I can juggle it. All prices are for information only, and will probably change before the end of the week.

Laptop: Compaq Presario CQ60-210TU (Dick Smith Electronics – $748.00)

3G Modem: Huawei E1762 (Exetel – $145.00)

Mixer: Yamaha MG102C ($269.00 RRP)

Amp: Behringer EP2000 ($529.00)

Speakers: 2x Behringer B212XL ($275.00 each)

Microphone: Sennheiser E816 ($129.00)

Total: $2370.00 This leaves $130 to spend on some accessories (e.g. mic cables, stands, etc.)

So, this is pretty much the cheapest rig I could piece together. Remember, you may have some bits and pieces lying around, such as a computer and some better mics. Also, I have assumed that we will be using free software on the PC.

I don’t really like the Mixer, speakers, or microphone in the above rig. We can do much better than that cheap stuff!

What happens if we up the budget a bit? Let’s say, $4000. Here’s what I would do:

Laptop: Compaq Presario CQ60-210TU (Dick Smith Electronics – $748.00)

3G Modem: Huawei E1762 (Exetel – $145.00)

Mixer: Yamaha MG124CX ($566.00)

Speakers: 2x Yamaha R112 ($449.00 each)

Amp: Yamaha P2500S ($699.00)

Wireless Mic: Shure PG2/PG58 ($599.00)

Total: $3755.00 Leaving $245.00 for accessories

That’s much nicer. Now we have a proper mixer with faders, rather than cheap pots, as well as a wireless mic and some nicer speakers and amp.

What if we decide we want a full two way audio link, so you can have chats with the people in the studio? We’ll need something like the offering from AudioTX, coming in at a bit below $5000 (based on some rough calculations, only).

Finally, remember that I haven’t included any ongoing costs, such as the 3G connection charges. That will cost extra, but I don’t think you can claim these ongoing charges from the grant.

Can we get a full OB rig for less than $2500? Yes we can! Is the equipment ideal? Not quite, but it will work and will allow you to establish a regular presence in the community. What I suggest is that stations get the core equipment from this grant, and then buy the rest from additional station funds (or perhaps do some fund raising or a sponsorship drive to raise the cash).

(For the record, many of the prices on this page came from Turramurra Music’s website. I have no hesitations in recommending them as a great place to buy PA gear from.)

During work experience, I was able to get very familiar with the Axia Audio-over-IP Studios. From my knowledge, there aren’t any that many stations using Axia studios, and I don’t even remember seeing them at SMPTE09, so their choice to invest in this brand was interesting to me.

However, there was a very valid reason they chose this brand over, say, Logiteck or Klotz. With either of these alternate brands (and others, I believe), the audio is all connect directly into the studio engines via I/O cards.

What happens if you have an audio source which needs to be used in multiple studios? You can access the audio over the network no matter what studio it is connected into, but if the studio with the audio for that feed connected into it needs to be brought offline, or perhaps restarted, you loose access to that source.

How do these companies suggest you get around this issue? Distribution amplifiers – run the audio into each studio’s engine through a DA. Hang on! Isn’t the point of Audio-over-IP equipment to avoid all of that thick multi-pair cable which is so expensive and takes extra time to install?

Let’s take a look at how Axia does it: no audio is actually connected into the studio engine. It all is connected into Audio Nodes, which are basically a 1RU device which hooks into your audio network via a single run of Cat6, and has some analog inputs and outputs on the back. All of that audio is now available on the network, to be accessed wherever you desire.

The end result: if you need to turn off a whole studio, you don’t risk taking any station-wide audio off the network. You also don’t need any multi pair cable into each studio, and DAs.

The problem I think the other manufacturers are facing is old thinking. (Actually, this is what the technical manager at Hope 103.2 described it as – and I agree with him). They are using the old methodology of all audio being connected into the studio, rather than having it connected into anywhere on the network. I can’t blame them for thinking like this – studios have been doing this for years, why change it for digital, right?

Why would you want to stick with this old approach when it’s obvious that this node approach of Axia’s is better thinking? By the way, it’s not as if Axia came up with this approach – computer networks have been doing this for ages.

Let’s move forwards and adapt new ways of thinking. Let’s be agents of change.

(I don’t mean to bag out Logiteck or Klotz. I spoke to both of them at SMPTE09, and they are great people. However, I believe that perhaps they are using the wrong techniques for this digital studio revolution.)